BNP Paribas Financial Markets Raises Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,816 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 21,455 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.06% of Cognex worth $3,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $136,999,000 after acquiring an additional 461,724 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,797,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Cognex by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $75,044,000 after purchasing an additional 576,788 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Cognex from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Cowen raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.17.

Cognex Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of CGNX traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $31.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,607,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,562,492. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.77 and a beta of 1.45. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $53.13. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $28.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.29.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.